Manjisann's Chainsaw Milling Adventures

[Old Greenhorn]

BTW, thanks for asking the question that drove me to find the free log weight app for you. I have it in my phone and am finding it very handy for quick log weights as I try to figure out what I can safely get on the trailer next weekend for each trip. It has no recording features or logging, just straight and simple weights. Very fast to bounce around with different sizes and species. I was going to delete it from my phone after I tried it before recommending it, but now I am going to keep it because it is so simple and handy.

[doc henderson]

so now you are a woodworker and a smart phone fan!!!

[Ljohnsaw]

So shortening the steel rope is in order.

Have a couple of 2x4 or 4x4s ready when you have it going up the ramp.  Use them through the rungs to provide a stop for the log.  Then, take the hooks you have on your V-cable and hook them to the back side angle iron to take up some slack.  Under the back side and hook on the top edge.  If you need to take up more, go back to the front and hook there.  Sometimes you will want the long cable so don't shorten it.  For minor slack take up, you can just do one side.

[ManjiSann]

ljohnsaw great ideas! 


A purple milling bench? Well I guess it'd match the kids play house. I'm seeing some connection between the land of make believe and man glitter ;)


Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

Well not a whole lot of milling going on sadly :(

With the virus I've been transitioned to working from home. I'm grateful to work for a good company that has given me this option. My wife is also being transitioned home so with all this change and the little earthquake we had a few days ago things are a bit nuts. No one was hurt in the earthquake, a few cans fell off the shelf was it, just a little nerve jangler.

So my focus has been put back on getting the basement moving along at a faster clip. Nearly done with the one room, another coat of mud and hopefully a little light sanding and paint and it's done. Then on to the wife's office which has now been bumped up to urgent on the needs scale. Then the room with a hundred names (formerly the man cave, the sanctuary, the ...)  

Luckily the weather has been wet so I'm not quite as inclined to try and shirk my responsibilities :D

Aside from a lot of great blessings one thing happened the other day that I thought was cool. I've been posting a bit of what I'm doing on Facebook. I don't really like social media and only started the page back up to spread word of what I was doing in the hopes of sourcing more tree trunks. That's been a no go so far but one of my co-workers that follows me stopped me to ask what I'm doing with all the lumber I'm milling. Seems he has a table with metal legs and a tile top that he was going to throw away but got thinking he'd try and refinish it an buy the wood for the top from me  8) 8)  So I'll have to do a good job of milling a few logs and mark them for bookending. Not sure it'll pan out or that any of the wood I've milled will be good for more than designer firewood but I thought it was way cool however it pans out

Anyhow, hope everyone else is doing well in these crazy times! Remember, Man Glitter is a cure for many things!!

Brandon 

[Nebraska]

Glad you can work from home and came through the earthquake with minimal issues. Stay safe. I just had a trailer load of ash given to me by one of my clients after we got done with a calving this evening. five logs total, one good 20 in ,one fair, and three short 12 in firewood logs. Pretty sure more will turn up for you.

[ManjiSann]

Thanks! All in all my family is super blessed! It's inconvenient and frustrating but we're all in good health so I have NO room to complain... won't stop me though ;)

Nice on the ash! I'd like to try milling some ash. I'd love to mill some Beech! I think it's a really underappreciated wood.

Aside from some deep seated need to accumulate stuff I'm fine on logs. If I'm honest I have all I can handle at the moment. Once I'm done milling the dozen or so I have I'll have to figure out where to store them while they dry, where to store them once they're dry, what to build out of them etc. All good problems to have   So far it seems I'm able to find logs when I really need them and I can't see any reason that'll change. People are always planting trees, trees are always growing and they are always being cut down so the supply chain seems healthy. 

Hope you and your family and doing well in all this crazy!

Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

So finally something solidly milling related  8)

Cleared a spot in the wood pile for the milling bench



Put the bench in its new home and hooked up the aluminum ramps. Decided to load the biggest log I have. Was tricky to get up but managed to get it on the bench and then made the mistake of ignoring the voice that told me to put the log dog in on the ramp side so the log couldn't roll off while I tried to position it the way I wanted it.... fortunately no foolish people were injured in the making of this tale but one aluminum ramp was destroyed  >:(



So that was an unexpected learning lesson. I spent a few minutes feeling sorry for myself then asked "what can I do with what I have on hand?" 

Finally settled on what was going to be the top of the welding bench, welded some angle iron on as hangers and set it in place. It's almost like it was originally intended for this! Woohoo. Super sturdy and I get the wall space in the garage back so BONUS!!



Got the log up, took the first cut and then rotated for the next



The home made cant hook is AMAZING! Couldn't do this stuff without it! I cut three sides and proceeded to take boards off two of them as the log was pretty tapered and I had read about this process so figured I'd give it a whirl. All in all it worked pretty well for nice boards though I have some taper in my boards but I've narrowed that down to operator error.  :P

There was nice color in these boards and some speckling that I guess was from branches that never grew??? 



So the cant remaining is a funny wedge shape. With the pith cracking and other defects I'm not sure it's worth taking wide boards from and with the set up time and the way I have to secure the ladder to it I'm not sure it's worth taking narrow boards... this is one of those times where I regret not having a bandsaw mill *shrug* oh well. It may end up as some 3x3's to make a shoddy work bench for when I'm milling or it may just end up as designer firewood. One cool thing about having a designated milling area is I don't have to clean up as much and can leave stuff a few days while I think



Brandon 

[JRWoodchuck]

If you weld some chunks of angle iron upside down on your new ramps it will act as little holders while your rolling your logs up

[ManjiSann]

If you weld some chunks of angle iron upside down on your new ramps it will act as little holders while your rolling your logs up

Great minds think alike! That's exactly what I did  Works great!
Brandon 

[SawyerTed]

That wedge shape might make some tapered legs.  You could use a 2x8 or similar in place if the ladder for your CSM or stand the wedge up and rip the pith out of it!   :D ;D :D

[Nebraska]

Looks like somebody's  future outdoor rustic patio bench to me. Bet you could conjure up some removable leveling feet for that ladder...

[ManjiSann]

That wedge shape might make some tapered legs.  You could use a 2x8 or similar in place if the ladder for your CSM or stand the wedge up and rip the pith out of it!   :D ;D :D

Hmmm I had a nebulous idea of using it for legs for a throw together outdoor table to hold my milling stuff... but your post made me wonder about maybe legs for the bench for the kitchen  8)  I'll have to try and rip some 2" thick cuts off in the next day or two after work and hope they dry well
Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

Looks like somebody's  future outdoor rustic patio bench to me. Bet you could conjure up some removable leveling feet for that ladder...

I need to do some rustic patio furniture at some point. 
Not sure I'm following the reason for removable leveling feet for the ladder?
Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

Where does the time go? Life is busy lately so not as much milling as I'd like. Funny thing is some of my logs are so bored waiting for me they've started sprouting little buds :D

Anyhow. I welded up a ramp to help load logs into the trucks as lifting 500lbs+ just isn't my cup of tea.  My nephew is taking welding in high school so I asked him to come give me a hand and glad I did. He is easily my equal in welding (which isn't hard as I'm not the greatest welder, no slight to his skills intended.)



Here's the finished product



Here it is loading a couple logs Saturday



It worked very well but needs a few adjustments/additions. It takes work to use but we were much less sore and exhausted loading those two logs than we have been in the past. I may weld a couple posts for a small removable log arch to facilitate getting the log onto the ramp so we don't have to brute force it on. The goal for this contraption was to utilize metal I had already. I'm seriously hoping to buy and modify a trailer next year so I can parbuckle logs onto it with a nice electric winch. 

I was a bit bummed that the wood was more siberian elm, I have a lot already and would like to get something different, maple or oak or some more of that locust would be awesome! But I have no room to complain as I am getting the wood for free. The cool thing is the guy doing the felling appears to be a small time tree guy and he offered to keep my number and let me know if/when he comes across other logs I'd be interested in. Kindness is rewarded it would seem. When we arrived he was having trouble with his chainsaw and after trying to help him troubleshoot it for a bit with no luck I let him use my little Poulan. I figure he's giving me free logs, I can let him use my saw real quick to get them down. Then we helped him cut it up and stack it once it was on the ground. Hopefully it'll turn into a contact that results in a few nice logs here and there.  8)

Hopefully I can mill a few more logs in the next couple weeks. I've nearly met the capacity of the little simple solar kiln so I think a second and probably third are in the near future   Fingers crossed, by the time the snow flies again I'll have a respectable stack of nice lumber I can build fine(ish ;) ) furniture with.

Brandon 

[doc henderson]

looking good.  do not underestimate the beauty of Elm.

[doc henderson]

here is an Elm that has sat for 5 years waiting.  It has started row crops!   :D



 

[ManjiSann]

looking good.  do not underestimate the beauty of Elm.

Not discounting it at all  Very pretty wood. I will admit to maybe a bit of wood peer pressure as everyone talks about maple this, oak that, etc. I guess I'll have to get over that eh :D
Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

The other day on my lunch break rather than sit around or the healthy alternative of going for a walk, I decided to line up some of the logs for easy loading onto the bench. It takes some creative phenagling but I got it done  8)



So yesterday I hit the milling hard and was rewarded with 10 6 foot boards 1.5" thick. I'm not sure how well some of them will do as there were some good sized branches coming off so the grain is extra squirrely but I am excited to see how they dry for the educational value of it AND if they dry well there's some really pretty grain structure that I may use to make the doors for my reloading bench as it's the only way I can think of to display them. I didn't get a picture of it but the heartwood had kind of a greenish cast to it which I thought was cool for the variety of it all. I'm feeling the effects of the long hours in the sun and the standing and pushing the milling jig but it's the kind of stiff soreness that comes from a job well done and I'm happy to sit in front of my computer and work in a cool basement today  ;D

The simple kiln is nearing capacity  8)




The stack of yesterdays boards 



The husky is leaking gas into the carb space and the air filter whenever I tip it on its side to fuel it up. Doesn't seem to leak when the fuel cap is on but the moment I open the cap it starts leaking, can't be sure but I'd guess a tablespoon or more of gas each time. It's also running and idling a bit rough and after I fuel up I have to wait a bit for the gas to evaporate before it'll start as I'm guessing that extra gas is playing havoc with the fuel air mixture. I'm hoping it's something simple like the fuel line opening isn't plugged quite right or maybe the carb just needs a rebuild kit. I have 3 more boards to get tonight if I have the energy and then I need to figure this leak out before it gets even worse. If anyone has had a similar leak and wants to offer sources to check I'd be much appreciative  :P

Hope everyone is doing well!

Brandon 

[Nebraska]

Make sure it's not leaking out of a crack in the fuel line right where it comes of of the tank, that can cause an air leak leaning out the fuel mix and well, every cylinder I've burnt up in a saw has been from an air leak issue leaning them out. Two happened with my  attempts at chainsawmilling/noodling long logs, one fuel line, one base gasket on the carb. Looks good. Going to have to make a dried  slab show room on your garage wall. 8)

[ManjiSann]

Nebraska, thanks for the starting point on the gas leak, I'll look into it as I'd imagine air leaking through the line would allow it to drain into the carb then out. 

I'm seriously not sure where I'm going to put all the wood once it's dry and I'm waiting for the time to use it but it's a problem for tomorrow so I'll worry about it then ;)

Brandon 

[ManjiSann]

I puttered around with the chainsaw checking some of the fuel feed lines for cracks. The line leading from the carb to the engine appears to be very thin in one area and I'm wondering if it's got a small air leak, I'll have to order a replacement. After playing with the lines I had my wife fill the fuel tank while I watched the carb area to see if I could locate the leak.... and no leak  ???  So I figured maybe moving the tubes resolved it. Went to mill and the leak reappeared  : . I'm not going to fret over it too much. The work around at the moment is to leave the air filter and cover off for a few minutes after refueling to allow the excess fuel to evaporate then she starts right up. I've ordered a new fuel line and filter as it was one of the lines I moved when it appeared it was fixed. I'll replace that, if the problem isn't resolved I'll replace the line going from the carb to the engine (I'm guessing it's some sort of breather or suction tube or something, if it's relevant I'll look the part number up and post it in case it's helpful to anyone else.) If those two things don't fix it I'm thinking the next step is a carb rebuild as the thought occured to me that maybe somehow the carb is pumping too much gas??? but as I type that I don't think that could be as it would have to be while the engine is running and that'd cause the engine to flood I would think. Oh well, I'll limp along until I get it worked out. I'm happy I can mill while I puzzle the fix out.

Not a ton of interesting stuff going on. I did finally build a shelving unit for the chainsaws and other equipment to get it off the garage floor. I grew tired of tripping over it and wondering what was going to be badly damaged first, me or the saws. Have one of the 6' logs on the bench and one more queued up to be milled then it's on to the stash of 4 footers. I used to try and vary the cut thicknesses to reduce planing waste but I've now decided that it takes a lot of time to adjust cutting depths AND with a 3/8" saw kerf one way or another a lot of the log ends up as sawdust whether by chainsaw or planer so I may as well make it easier on myself and try to just cut one thickness per log or milling session. It also helps with the stacking aspect as well, at least with my process (process, what a nice way to term the random mess I make ;) )

Brandon 

[Nebraska]

Same thickness will make you much more efficient with your set up, I would think. I also don't think you'll run out of logs to mill in the near future. 

[ManjiSann]

I'm still trying to figure out what my niche is in this hobby. I figure I'll cut for 3/4, 6/4 and 8/4 boards (I size at least 1/4" over the target size, lately I'm doing 3/8 to allow for planing, shrinking, warp, etc.) I look at a log then pick whatever size I think would get the best boards from it. I don't have specific plans on anything yet and I figure the above sizes will allow for a lot of flexibility in building. 

I can't speak for other CSM jigs but mine takes at least 5 mins to adjust, sometimes longer. Since the builder neglected to include user instructions  ;D I'm learning as I go. I'm still figuring out the best way to adjust, change chains, etc, but that's part of the fun of the adventure.  8)

I'm not too worried about running out of logs any time soon. So far the best I've managed is 2 logs in one day. My current plan is to mill until the weather starts getting warm enough it's miserable then focus on some other important projects. Hopefully by fall I'll have some nice wood to build with  And I think I have a slight illness, I keep telling myself I have enough logs and no room for more yet I keep surfing the local ads and looking for more : :

Brandon 

[Nebraska]

Too many logs ...never. You can always a couple more. ;)